Michael Wacha is, in many ways, the same pitcher who broke into the big leagues with the St. Louis Cardinals in 2013. The changeup is still his best weapon, and his fastball velocity has remained in the 93–95-mph range throughout. The 31-year-old right-hander has changed teams a few times, but he’s largely kept the same identity.

There have been tweaks to his repertoire and pitch usage. That’s inevitable over the course of what has been a 10-year career, one that will continue will a team yet to be determined. Following seven years as a Cardinal and subsequent one-year stints with the New York Mets, Tampa Bay Rays, and Boston Red Sox, Wacha is now a free agent. He’s hitting the open market on a high note; in 23 starts comprising 127.1 innings last season, the Texas A&M product went 11–2 with a 3.32 ERA.

Wacha discussed his evolution as a pitcher on the final day of the 2022 regular season.

———

David Laurila: To varying degrees, all pitchers evolve. How many times would you say you’ve changed over the years?

Michael Wacha: “From my rookie year, I’d probably say… a couple of times? But I don’t know. I mean, each year I’m trying to work on something different to help out my repertoire, to bolster it or make it better. So it’s kind of hard to say, but there have been a couple of changes.”

Laurila: Can you give any examples? Read the rest of this entry »

If the BABIP gods change their minds, the Red Sox are the first in line. Last week, they inked left-handed reliever Joely Rodríguez, formerly of the Mets, to an incentive-laden, one-year contract with a team option for 2024. If he pitches like his peripheral numbers indicate he can, the signing should prove fruitful for Boston.

Rodríguez will make a base salary of $1.5 million in 2023, with a chance to earn an additional $2.25 million in incentives. He’ll receive a $50,000 bonus if he pitches in 30 games and an extra $50,000 each for reaching the 40-, 50-, 60-, and 70-game plateaus. On top of that, he’ll earn a bigger bonus the longer he remains on the active roster — an extra $500,000 each for logging 30, 60, 90, and 120 days.

Barring a significant injury or complete meltdown, Rodríguez should easily reach 120 days of service time in 2023. In other words, that $2 million bonus is practically money in his pocket. On the other hand, the games-pitched incentive is less of a guarantee. Rodríguez pitched 50-plus games in both of the past two seasons but has yet to cross the 60-game threshold in his MLB career. He has gotten close, however, and 2023 could be the year it finally happens. With the Red Sox, not only will he find himself a little higher up on the bullpen depth chart, but there will also be more relief opportunities to go around, as Boston’s starting rotation is unlikely to pitch quite as deep into games as New York’s. All that to say, he can reasonably expect to earn the $50,000 bonus for pitching 30, 40, and 50 games, and he might pocket another $50,000 for reaching the 60-game plateau; 70 games still seems a little out of reach.

After the deal’s first year, the Red Sox have a team option for $4.25 million (with another $250,000 in games-pitched incentives). If they choose not to exercise the option, Rodríguez receives a $500,000 buyout. In short, the deal is for a minimum of one year and $2 million, with a maximum potential of two years and $8.25 million. Read the rest of this entry »

For the 18th consecutive season, the ZiPS projection system is unleashing a full set of prognostications. For more information on the ZiPS projections, please consult this year’s introduction and MLB’s glossary entry. The team order is selected by lot, and the first team to go this year is the Boston Red Sox.

Batters

The Red Sox finished fourth in the American League in runs scored in 2022, but there’s no denying that removing Xander Bogaerts and J.D. Martinez from the roster is a giant hit for the team to take. They may replace the missing value (if not all of it), but it’s a roster with a lot of work to do to be an elite unit. The projections see the offense as being driven mostly by Rafael Devers and Trevor Story, with Story getting quite the bullish projection. Having Triston Casas on the team would be helpful on average, and he has far more upside than either Eric Hosmer or Bobby Dalbec, but as of right now, the team will unfortunately be able to find quite a lot of playing time for the latter two, at least as the roster currently stands. Read the rest of this entry »

Thad Ward should be of interest to several teams come next month’s Rule 5 draft. Currently no. 15 on our Boston Red Sox prospect rankings with a 40+ FV, the 25-year-old right-hander wasn’t added to the club’s 40-man roster — a decision that left Eric Longenhagen “a tad surprised.” Our lead prospect analyst explained that Ward “looked good in the Arizona Fall League, locating 92-94 mph fastballs while mixing in two above-average breaking balls… [and] looks like a possible bulk relief fit right now.”

Three years ago, Ward looked to be well on his way to securing a spot in Boston’s starting rotation. When he was featured at FanGraphs in October 2019, the 2018 fifth-rounder out of the University of South Florida had recently been honored as the organization’s Minor League Pitcher of the Year. According to then-Red Sox pitching analyst Brian Bannister, Ward was in possession of “a Chris Sale slider.”

But fate had its say. The 2020 minor league season was canceled due to the pandemic, and the following year, Ward underwent Tommy John surgery after making just two starts with Double-A Portland. By the time he returned to action this past July, he had essentially missed two-plus seasons. But while taking the mound again didn’t feel akin to jumping back on a bicycle for the righty, he did pitch well. In 51-and-a-third innings spread across four levels, Ward fanned 66 batters and allowed just 40 hits while logging a 2.88 ERA.

Ward discussed his comeback, including how his stuff compares to what it was pre-injury, during his stint in the Arizona Fall League.

———

David Laurila: You came back from Tommy John this year. Are you the same pitcher now that you were before going under the knife?

Thad Ward: “In some ways, yes. In some ways, no. I’ve matured a lot in terms of stuff I can’t control. I don’t get as upset over mistakes. That’s not to say my competitive edge has gone away, it’s more that I feel I’m channeling it in a better direction.” Read the rest of this entry »

Tuesday’s 40-man roster deadline led to the usual squall of transaction activity, with teams turning over portions of their rosters in an effort to make room for the incoming crop of young rookies. Often, teams with an overflow of viable big leaguers will try to get back what they can for some of those players via trade, but because we’re talking about guys straddling the line between major league viability and Triple-A, those trades tend not to be big enough to warrant an entire post. Over the next few days, I’ll endeavor to cover and analyze the moves made by each team, division by division. Readers can view this as the start of list season, as the players covered in this miniseries tend to be prospects who will get big league time in the next year. I’ll spend more time discussing players who I think need scouting updates or who I haven’t written about in the past. If you want additional detail on some of the more famous names you find below, pop over to The Board for a more thorough report. The Future Value grades littered throughout these posts may be different than those on the 2022 in-season prospect lists on The Board to reflect my updated opinions, and may be subject to change during the offseason.

Baltimore Orioles

Current 40-man Count: 39
Added Prospects: SP Grayson Rodriguez (60 FV), SS Joey Ortiz (50 FV), SP Seth Johnson (40+ FV), SP Drew Rom (40 FV), MIRP Noah Denoyer (35+ FV)
External Additions: CF Daz Cameron (waivers from Detroit), C Mark Kolozsvary (35+ FV, waivers from Reds)

In addition to free agent departures (Rougned Odor and Jesús Aguilar to name a few), the Orioles primed space on their 40-man roster by outrighting several fringe big leaguers, and opened Tuesday morning with just 34 players on their 40-man. They’ve had an especially high rate of turnover at catcher over the last few weeks, as they let Robinson Chirinos walk in free agency, outrighted Cam Gallagher and Anthony Bemboom off the roster, claimed both Aramis Garcia and Mark Kolozsvary off waivers from the Reds, and then outrighted Garcia. I have Kolozsvary, who is still prospect-eligible, evaluated as a third catcher on the 40-man.

Mike Elias also scooped up old buddy Daz Cameron, who replaces Yusniel Diaz on the 40-man. Daz has been in “prospect limbo” for about a year, as he graduated from rookie status in 2021 but still spent most of this season in the minors. The 40 FV (a fifth outfielder eval) and tool grades assigned to him at that time still hold (you can see those on his player page), making Daz a defensive upgrade to Diaz (who was outrighted off the roster) and a L/R fit with a couple other Orioles outfielders (Kyle Stowers, Cedric Mullins, maybe some Terrin Vavra). Cameron is out of options while Ryan McKenna (who I preferred to Cameron as a prospect by the time he graduated) is not, so barring further moves I assume Daz is more likely to break camp with the big club at this point. Read the rest of this entry »

Denzel Clarke isn’t one of the highest-profile prospects in the Oakland Athletics organization. A 2021 fourth-round pick out of Cal State Northridge, the 22-year-old outfielder is No. 17 in our most recent ranking of the system. But he is one of the most intriguing — and most exciting. Gifted with elite athleticism, Clarke made a number of highlight-reel catches this summer, and he also legged out a pair of inside-the-park home runs. In a season split between Low-A Stockton and High-A Lansing, he put up a 123 wRC+ while going deep 15 times and stealing 30 bases in 33 attempts.

His baseball background is modest compared to that of most of his peers. A native of Ontario, Canada, Clarke began playing at age 10, and it wasn’t until he was 16 that he began taking the game seriously. It was then that his travel-ball coach with the Toronto Mets told him he had a shot at doing something special if he devoted his attention to the diamond. Prior to that, he was multi-sport to the max.

“I played everything,” explained Clarke, who is currently with the Arizona Fall League’s Mesa Solar Sox. “In school, it was track and field — that runs in the family (Clarke’s mother competed in the 1984 Summer Olympics) —volleyball, basketball, badminton. I love racquet sports, so I played some tennis. I touched on pretty much everything except football and hockey. My mom was very precautionary with concussions, so those are the two I avoided.” Read the rest of this entry »

The Boston Red Sox acquired a unique pitcher when they claimed Jake Reed off waivers from the Baltimore Orioles last week. They also acquired a pitcher who is heading into the offseason looking to rework a delivery that is among the funkiest in the game. As Ben Clemens showed us when writing about him last summer, the side-slinging 28-year-old right-hander has been attacking hitters from an arm slot that is anything but ordinary.

Reed’s effectiveness in the big leagues has been a mixed bag. Since debuting with the Dodgers last July, he’s held same-sided batters to a .639 OPS, but he’s also logged a 5.74 ERA over his 28 relief appearances. With designs on jumpstarting a professional career that began in 2014 when he was drafted 140th overall by the Minnesota Twins out of the University of Oregon, Reed plans to not only bring a new throwing motion with him to Boston, but a higher octane heater as well.

Reed discussed the evolution of his atypical delivery, and why it again needs to change, on the final weekend of the regular season.

———

On dropping his arm angle:
“I’d pretty much always been low three-quarters. I was pitching pretty well in the minors, but in 2017 the Twins changed over their front office. Baseball was getting a lot more progressive, which sort of changed how guys are valued. I threw pretty hard — I was a mid-to-upper-90s kind of guy — but my stuff didn’t necessarily perform super well analytically. So about halfway through the 2019 season we had a long conversation and came to the idea of me dropping down sidearm and trying to create more movement on my sinker, and improve my slider. That was the first time I really made that transition from how I’d thrown my whole life. Read the rest of this entry »

Senior Developer, Baseball Systems

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Full-Time

Position Overview:
The Senior Developer, Baseball Systems position will be a member of the baseball operations software development team, and is responsible for the design, development, and support, of all baseball systems. This individual will work closely with members of baseball operations to understand business requirements that drive the analysis, design, and development of quality baseball systems and solutions. This senior developer will collaborate closely with the Director of Baseball Systems, colleagues on the software development team, and baseball operations personnel from all departments.

Responsibilities

• Create leading-edge baseball solutions together with the software development team and others on new and existing baseball systems
• Lead the design and implementation of the software architecture and embrace a software engineering mindset
• Lead the software development process of critical baseball applications, including requirements gathering, analysis, effort estimation, technical investigation, software design and implementation, testing, bug fixing, and quality assurance
• Responsible for the design and development of databases, web services, graphical user interfaces, and other aspects of web and desktop applications
• Actively participate in the architecting, deployment, and maintenance of system solutions in a cloud-based environment
• Actively participate with colleagues in design reviews, code reviews, and exercise best practices
• Work closely with baseball analysts to design and implement solutions to their modeling and data needs
• Respond to and resolve technical problems and issues in a timely manner
• Identify and implement creative solutions for technical challenges

Technical Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, or a related field
• 5 or more years of development experience using some combination of C#, Java, Python, Ruby, JavaScript, Typescript, T-SQL, ServiceStack, Angular, React, Vue, Knockout, or other frameworks, with a focus on responsive & progressive web applications.
• Strong database design and development experience, especially with MS SQL Server
• Experience integrating systems and data using third-party APIs and web services
• Experience with cloud technologies from AWS, GCP, or Azure are a plus
• Experience with R is a plus
• Experience with Dev Ops tools is a plus

General Skills:

• Ability to work autonomously and as a team in a fast paced environment
• High level of attention to detail with the ability to multi-task effectively
• Comfortable working remotely using Zoom, Teams, Slack, Trello, and other tools to communicate with all team members
• High degree of professionalism and ability to maintain confidential information
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• An understanding of baseball, common terms, and analytic measures, are a plus

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Data Architect, Baseball Systems

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Full-Time

Position Overview:
The Data Architect, Baseball Systems position will be a member of the baseball operations software development team, and is responsible for the design, implementation, and deployment of the information architecture of all baseball systems. This position must be comfortable with on-premises and cloud solutions, and take the initiative to explore new optimizations and cutting-edge data technologies and is expected to research industry trends to stay current on new tools and technology, and will work closely with our data engineers, analysts, developers, and other members of baseball operations.

Responsibilities

• Through research, design, and architectural efforts, and in collaboration with software development resources, ensure we have access to world-class data for analytical and system purposes.
• Develop a thorough understanding of the all areas within Baseball Operations to help design effective and highly integrated solutions
• Ensure processes and systems are in place to support the integrity, accuracy, consistency, and availability of all content
• Create and manage ETL (extract, transform, load) data integration processes
• In collaboration with the analytics and software development teams, design and implement baseball algorithms and functionality
• Partner with data providers to understand current and future data roadmaps, identify limitations, and develop along-term data content plan in collaboration with baseball leadership
• Respond to and resolve data-related problems and issues in a timely manner.
• Complete ad-hoc database queries and analysis as directed
• Effectively communicate statuses to the Director, as well as other leadership as requested throughout all projects

Knowledge & Experience:

• Bachelor’s degree in computer science, computer engineering, data engineering, or equivalent professional experience; Master’s degree a plus
• 6+ years of related work experience, including demonstrated knowledge about data management best practices and ability to effectively solve problems pertaining to data infrastructure and integrity
• Proven track record of collecting and understanding complex requirements and delivering creative and effective solutions
• Expertise in relational databases, database design, architecture, and development
• Expertise designing and building data models for Snowflake and ingesting data into Snowflake using various pipelines
• Expertise in writing and optimizing SQL queries in SQL Server or other database technologies
• Experience with Azure, AWS, and/or GCP cloud technologies, such as Cloud SQL, RDS, Redshift, Azure SQL, and others, and working with hybrid on-premises technologies
• Experience building solutions using Python, C#, C++, Ruby, or other languages
• Experience with scheduling and workflow management platforms, such as Airflow
• Experience with big data systems such as Spark or Hadoop is a plus
• Experience with R and RStudio is a plus

Personal Attributes:

• Ability to work autonomously and as a team in a fast-paced environment
• High level of attention to detail with the ability to multi-task effectively
• Comfortable working remotely using Zoom, Teams, Slack, Trello, and other tools to communicate with all team members
• High degree of professionalism and ability to maintain confidential information
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• An understanding of baseball is a plus

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Data Engineer, Baseball Systems

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Full-Time

Position Overview:
The Data Engineer, Baseball Systems position will be a member of the baseball operations software development team, and is responsible for integrating, collecting, processing, and storing many sources of baseball data, as well as designing and building new data solutions. This position must be comfortable with on-premises and cloud solutions, and take the initiative to explore new optimizations and cutting-edge data technologies. This individual will work closely with our data architect, analysts, developers, and other members of baseball operations.

Responsibilities

• Build leading-edge baseball solutions together with the software development team, analysts, and others on new and existing baseball systems
• Build and maintain integration pipelines, often via an API or file-based, while also identifying areas of improvement and spending time to re-architect when required
• Build and maintain infrastructure to optimize extraction, transformation, and the loading of data from various sources
• Design, build, and maintain data warehousing solutions for the software development and analytics teams
• Build and maintain tools for the analysts to enable more efficient and extensive data modeling and simulation efforts
• Participate in key phases of the software development process of critical baseball applications, including requirements gathering, analysis, effort estimation, technical investigation, software design and implementation, testing, bug fixing, and quality assurance
• Actively participate with software developers and data architects in design reviews, code reviews, and other best practices
• Work closely at times with baseball analysts to design and implement data solutions
• Respond to and resolve technical problems and issues in a timely manner

Technical Skills

• Bachelor’s degree in Computer Science, Software Engineering, Computer Engineering, Statistics, Information Systems, or a related field
• 2-3 years of experience in a Date Engineer role
• Proficiency with SQL and query optimizations, stored procedures, views, and other database objects
• Experience building custom API integrations, interfacing with JSON, XML, and custom data structures
• Experience with AWS, GCP, or Azure cloud services, such as Cloud SQL, RDS, Redshift, Azure SQL, Azure SQL DW, or others
• Experience building data solutions using Python, C#, C++, Ruby, or other languages
• Experience with scheduling and workflow management platforms, such as Airflow
• Experience with ETL tools and pipelines from various platforms
• Experience with big data frameworks such as Hadoop or Spark is a plus
• Experience with R and RStudio is a plus

General Skills:

• Ability to work autonomously and as a team in a fast paced environment
• High level of attention to detail with the ability to multi-task effectively
• Comfortable working remotely using Zoom, Teams, Slack, Trello, and other tools to communicate with all team members
• High degree of professionalism and ability to maintain confidential information
• Excellent organizational and time management skills
• An understanding of baseball is a plus

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Technology Specialist, Baseball Systems

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Full-Time

Position Overview:
The Technology Specialist, Baseball Systems is responsible for ensuring the installation, readiness, monitoring, maintenance, and support of key baseball operation’s technology at all Red Sox affiliate ballparks, Fenway Park, and at our Academy in the Dominican Republic. Baseball operations technology includes, but is not limited to, specialized camera systems, radar tracking systems, advanced pitching machines, video coaching systems, optical tracking systems, medical technologies, and other supporting technology, as necessary. The role will have a dual-reporting relationship to the Director, Baseball Systems as well as to the VP, IT Operations. The ideal candidate must be detailed-oriented, self-motivated, possess strong communications and project management skills, good technical experience, and an understanding of baseball or other professional sports. The candidate will need to effectively manage the operational readiness and health of numerous systems, coordinate with technical personnel within the Red Sox as well as vendors supporting ballparks and key technology providers.

Responsibilities:

• Manage the installation, readiness, maintenance, and support of key Baseball Operations technology at all Red Sox affiliate ballparks, Fenway Park, and at our Academy in the Dominican Republic
• Monitor and ensure the proper functioning of these key technologies, particularly during spring training and the baseball season
• Develop an effective relationship with Baseball Operations technology partners, installation and support vendors, Baseball Operations personnel and ballpark resources
• Take calls, Slack, IM, and respond to e-mails for teir-1 support from ballpark resources, vendors, Baseball Operations, and IT
• Log and monitor all support calls and manage/escalate tickets with tier-2 resources in ServiceNow
• Partner with Baseball Operations and IT on the scheduling and deployment of key ballpark technologies in conjunction with vendors and respective ballpark personnel
• Create and update ballpark technical documentation to reflect the positioning of key baseball technologies
• Communicate timely and thoroughly to Baseball Operations and IT leadership on business interruptions
• Work collaboratively with ballpark technology vendors using Slack, Trello, IM, and other communication tools to support all baseball technologies
• Develop a working knowledge of Baseball Operations technology and support requirements to help troubleshoot and resolve issues when possible
• Manage vendor invoices associated with the installation, operation, and support of Baseball Operations technology. Communicate expenditures with Director, Baseball Operations and VP, IT Operations.

Characteristics/Qualifications:

• 2 or 4-year college degree, preferably in an IT-related discipline or related experience
• Proficiency with PC hardware and software, with basic to intermediate troubleshooting a must
• Thorough knowledge of Microsoft software (e.g., Office, Exchange, Word, Excel, PowerPoint, O365, etc.)
• Experience working in a sports or entertainment environment and an understanding of the key technologies and support requirements
• Experience working with ballpark technologies is a plus
• Good project management skills
• Strong written, oral, and interpersonal communication skills
• Strong problem-solving skills
• Aptitude to work independently
• Able to prioritize work, effectively communicate risk, and able to meet deadlines
• Ability to work effectively with all levels of employees
• Ability to partner with vendors
• High degree of professionalism and ability to maintain confidential information
• Willing to travel to affiliates and the Dominican Republic as needed

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Associate, Baseball Strategy/Personnel

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Associate / Co-Op / Intern

Position Overview:
This position will provide organizational support centered on valuation, strategic planning, empirical research, analytical interaction, and process design. The role will collaborate with multiple departments and functions within baseball operations, including but not limited to player acquisition, pro scouting, development, analytics, and systems.

Responsibilities:

• Support player acquisition with player valuation, targeting, and roster planning.
• Assist with major/minor league free agency, trade analysis, the rule 5 draft, waivers, etc.
• Interact with the analytics department and contribute to QC with relevant tool/model outputs.
• Support departments in baseball operations with regards to valuation and empirical research initiatives.
• Strategic planning in the areas of player evaluation, acquisition, and development initiatives.
• Stay up to date on pertinent analytical work, research, and resources across the player landscape, internal and external. Discover insights and trends in public and internal data and tooling.
• Participate in idea generation and scenario planning.
• Other tasks as assigned.

Characteristics/Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree or above in a related field.
• Strong written/verbal communication skills and work ethic.
• Team focused mentality, with exceptional collaborative abilities.
• Attention to detail, while also having the ability to work quickly and balance multiple priorities.
• Experience with programming languages (e.g., C, Python, Matlab or R) is beneficial, but not required.
• Experience in SQL is beneficial.

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

The content in this posting was created and provided solely by the Boston Red Sox.

Two years before being hired to manage the Tampa Bay Devil Rays, Joe Maddon interviewed for the job in Boston. The winter-of-2003 vetting by the then Red Sox decision-makers — a subject I broached with Maddon in a 2007 interview — didn’t bear fruit… but what if it had? Earlier this week, I asked the proud son of Hazleton, Pennsylvania what might have happened had he started his big-league managerial career in Boston.

“I don’t think it would have turned out as well,” responded Maddon, who spent nine years in Tampa before going on to manage the Chicago Cubs and the Los Angeles Angels. “I wasn’t ready for that; I wasn’t ready for that market. Theo [Epstein] and Jed [Hoyer] made a great decision. Tito was the right guy.”

History bears that out. Four years removed from managing the Philadelphia Phillies for the same number of seasons, Terry Francona led the Red Sox to their first World Series title since 1918. While Maddon went on to win a World Series of his own, with the Cubs in 2016 — the team’s first since 1908 — hiring a first-year manager as Grady Little’s replacement wouldn’t have been in Boston’s best interests. Nor in Maddon’s.

“I needed more time to really develop what I wanted to do, and how I wanted to do it,” explained Maddon, whose managerial resume includes nine 90-plus-win seasons. “I really did need more of an expansion team than a tradition-based team at that point. I could experiment. I could try different things that weren’t very popular, or that nobody had thought about. I needed that wider berth, and the support that I got from Andrew [Friedman] at that particular time. So, thank God for unanswered prayers. I wanted the Red Sox job, but it was so much better for me to start out with the Devil Rays.” Read the rest of this entry »

Manager/Director, Baseball Initiatives

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Full-Time

Position Overview:
Research and implement new long-term initiatives throughout baseball operations, and identify under-resourced but potentially fruitful areas for strategic development, in order to create competitive advantages for the Red Sox.

Responsibilities:

• Build relationships throughout baseball operations to understand current organizational processes and identify opportunities for advancement
• Work systematically to understand best practices within the industry and what drives their effectiveness
• Work to understand what past new initiatives have had impact in baseball and why
• Research possible new initiatives that could have positive impact on the Red Sox, including identifying relevant areas of emphasis, best practices, and new initiatives in other sports and industries
• Regularly communicate with senior baseball operations leadership to recommend and prioritize new initiatives, then develop action plans to implement them
• Collaborate with appropriate personnel, including department heads, to implement selected initiatives and work with relevant staff to integrate into the department’s day-to-day
• Build processes to assess these initiatives, define success and failure, and learn from their implementation
• Spearhead other special projects as appropriate and directed
• Oversee and participate in the hiring of any future positions within this space

Characteristics/Qualifications

• Self-motivated; comfortable working independently from day-to-day baseball operations business
• High levels of humility and curiosity
• Creative and entrepreneurial mindset, with a willingness to challenge the status quo
• Able to build comprehensive action plans and a willingness to use evidence to assess their effectiveness
• Team-focused, with above-average ability to build relationships and collaborate
• Strong written and verbal communication skills

*Level of the role will be based on candidate experience and expected contribution

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

Analyst

Location: Boston, MA
Department: Baseball Operations
Status: Full-Time

Position Overview:
The Boston Red Sox are seeking an Analyst for the team’s Baseball Analytics department. The role will support all areas of Baseball Operations while working closely with Director of Baseball Analytics, and our team of analysts.

This is an opportunity to work in a fast-paced, intellectually curious environment and to impact player evaluation, acquisition, development and strategic decision making.

Responsibilities:

• Statistical modeling and quantitative analysis of a variety of data sources, for the purpose of player evaluation, strategic decision-making, decision analysis, etc.
• Effectively present analyses through the use of written reports and data visualization to disseminate insights to members of the Baseball Operations leadership.
• Maintain working expertise of leading-edge analytics, including publicly available research and novel statistical approaches, in order to recommend new or emerging techniques, technologies, models, and algorithms.
• Other projects and related duties as directed by the Director, Baseball Analytics, and other members of Baseball Operations leadership.

Qualifications:

• Bachelor’s degree in an analytical field such as statistics, predictive analytics, data science, engineering, applied math, physics, quantitative social sciences, computer science, computer vision, or operations research.
• Masters, PhD, or equivalent experience in one of the aforementioned fields preferred.
• Advanced understanding of statistical methods or machine learning techniques.
• Proficiency with modern database technologies including SQL.
• Demonstrated experience with programming languages (e.g., R or Python).
• Demonstrated ability to communicate technical ideas to non-technical audiences using data visualization.
• Attention to detail while also having the ability to work quickly and balance multiple priorities.
• Ability to work evening, weekend, and holiday hours is a must.
• Other programming and database skills are a plus.

The Red Sox (or FSM) requires proof of being up-to-date on COVID-19 vaccination as a condition of employment, subject to applicable legal requirements. Up-to-date means having received all recommended COVID-19 vaccination doses in the primary series and a booster dose(s) when eligible, per CDC guidelines.

Prospective employees will receive consideration without discrimination based on race, religious creed, color, sex, age, national origin, handicap, disability, military/veteran status, ancestry, sexual orientation, gender identity/expression or protected genetic information.

To Apply:
To apply, please follow this link.

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